Catholic Masculinity, Femininity, Matrimony, & Family
  • Catholic Masculinity
  • Catholic Femininity
  • Agrarianism
  • Three Marks
  • Coepiscopi
  • Conferences
  • Private Forum
  • Contact

Springtime Ramblings

5/19/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Lately, I have been really busy.  Spring has sprung and with it...LIFE!  With the end of the school year comes vegetable gardens, chicken butchering, the ongoing battle with taming the weeds on our little corner of the 28 acres, and the inevitable run-in with ticks, bees, and dive-bombing barn swallows.  This is also the time designed by God for us to pray the traditional novena to the Holy Ghost.

Spring always has a powerful effect on me.  I chalk it up to my farming ancestors and the need to work harder and longer during these weeks of planting.  The windows of opportunity to get seed in the ground are small, and the farmer is ever aware of the quality of the soil and sun.  Spring is the time God has set for planting, not only in the field of the earth, but also in the field of eternity.  We celebrate the joy of Easter, but ultimately, the Holy Ghost is coming to finally give life to the seed that was planted on Good Friday ("unless a seed falls to the ground and die...").  Pentecost is the great feast of establishing the Kingdom of God in the power and courage that was hidden in the hearts of Peter, John, and the rest of the Apostles.

I have often had a problem with those that have called recent years or events, "a New Springtime".  Whether it was Pope John Paul II calling for a new springtime in the Church or those calling the modern revolutions in the east, the Arab Spring.  It always struck me as odd...in the Church it seemed like the hem was coming loose and more and more dissent was becoming metastasized in the Church (think Georgetown today?!)  How was this a Springtime?  As to the Arab Spring, well, it may well become a Christian Autumn in the Middle East.   All of this being said, I have recently reflected upon springtime and may see what the Holy Father was trying to inspire.

Springtime is a time for planting, fertilizing, growth, new life, etc, etc etc.  To use some old scholastic philosphical terminology, Spring is the great time of potentiality.  The seed holds within it potential to become a verdant head of lettuce.  The egg holds within it the potential to become a chick, then a full grown chicken, and then dinner for my family.  The Apostles held this potentiality in themselves from Christ breathing on them in the upper room.  We hold potentiality within us from our Baptism to become all that God desires of us.  As Christian men, we hold within ourselves the great potential to become the priest, prophet, and king of our family and of turning our little corner of the world to the good God that has made us.

All of this potential is what ultimately makes Spring great.  I often laugh at the image of the pessimistic farmer (yep, they are all around).  What is funny is that, although he may be pessimistic, he still tills...he still plants...he still fertilizes...and yes, he still harvests the crop in due season.  Many of us may also be pessimistic in our attitudes about ourselves, our kids, our wives, our families.  We seem to be stuck and can't change our ways.  We are stuck in our addictions to entertainment, food, pleasure, and selfishness.  Spring tells us, "Don't give up...just plant some seed...watch it grow!"  God is telling us, "If you have died with me, so you shall be raised up with me."  All the potentiality of our Baptism is there, waiting for us to pray and act.  Pentecost will see the great germination of the seed of our Baptism if only we will let it grow.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Coepiscopi  means fellow bishops. The phrase is taken from St.Augustine's address to his "fellow bishops," the familial men of his diocese of Hippo.  St. Augustine said to his Coepiscopi: "Each and every one of you have in the home the bishop's office to see to it that neither his wife nor his son nor his daughter nor even his servant fall away from the truth.  For they were bought with a great price."

    Archives

    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010

    Categories

    All
    Battle
    Children
    Dilsaver
    Dress-code
    Eric Donley
    Faith
    Family
    Holiness
    Imitation Of Christ
    Large Family
    Leadership
    Magnanimity
    Manliness
    Modernism
    Motherhood
    Pieper
    Prayer
    Purity
    Sacrifice
    Teens
    Time
    Vision

    RSS Feed

    Resources

    Catechism of the Council of Trent - link here

    FSSP Bookstore

    Online Bible -Douay Rheims
  • Catholic Masculinity
  • Catholic Femininity
  • Agrarianism
  • Three Marks
  • Coepiscopi
  • Conferences
  • Private Forum
  • Contact
✕